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FACILITY 

III 

AN    APPEAL 


LEGISLATURES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


IN   RELATION    TO 


PUBLIC    SCHOOLS. 


By     CHARLES    BROOKS, 

MEDFORD,  aiASS. 


SECOND    EmTION. 


CAMBRIDGE : 

PRESS    OF    JOHN    WILSON    &    SON. 

1869. 


UCSB  LIBRARY 
AN    APPEAL 


LEGISLATURES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


IN    liJELATIO.N    TO 


PUBLIC    SCHOOLS. 


By    CHAELES    BROOKS, 

# 

MEDFORD,  ]\L\.SS. 


SECOND    EDITION. 


CAMBRIDGE : 
PRESS    OF    JOHN    WILSON    &    SON. 

1869. 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/appealtolegislatOObrooiala 


To   the    Honorable   Senate  and  House   of  Representatives  of  the 

State  of . 

Gentlemen, — A  self-appointed  missionary,  now  a  sep- 
tuagenarian, who  has  labored  gratuitously  for  free  public 
'schools  since  1835,  asks  permission  to  address  you  as  fellow- 
workers  in  the  great  national  cause  of  Education.  I  hold 
your  office  in  highest  respect,  and  have  the  fullest  confidence 
in  your  wisdom,  justice,  and  patriotism,  and  would  now  give 
you  in  brief  the  results  of  my  study  and  experience  in  this 
country  and  Europe,  so  far  as  relates  to  the  action  of  State 
Legislatures. 

CHARLES  BROOKS, 
Junk  27,  18G7.  Medford,  Mass. 


PRESENT    DUTIES 


LEGISLATURES    IN    THE    UNFIED    STATES 


IN  RELATION  TO  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS. 


Carlyle  says,  "It  is  the  clearest  duty,  prescribed  by  Nature 
herself,  under  silent  but  real  and  awful  penalties,  of  govern- 
ing persons  in  every  society,  to  see  that  the  people,  so  far  as 
possible,  are  taught ;  that,  wherever  a  citizen  is  born,  some 
chance  be  offered  him  of  becoming  a  man.  This  is  for  ever 
the  duty  of  governors,  and  persons  of  authority  in  human 
societies." 

The  State  Legislatures,  in  our  American  Union,  have  the 
sole  power  of  creating  public  free  schools  within  their  limits. 
In  those  States  where  such  a  system  of  elementary  education 
does  not  exist,  it  is  the  present  duty,  and  will  be  the  highest 
interest,  of  such  States  to  create  and  foster  such  a  system  of 
pure,  democratic,  republican  instruction. 

What  form  should  legislation  take  ?  Any  State  Legisla- 
ture might  pass  such  laws  as  these :  Towns  having  fifty 
families  shall  provide  one  public  free  school,  to  be  kept  six 
months  in  each  year ;  towns  having  one  hundred  families, 
one  school  for  one  year ;    one  hundred  and  fifty  families, 


two  schools  of  nine  months  each ;  five  hundred  faraih'es,  two 
schools  for  one  year ;  and  so  on.  Larger  numbers  and 
longer  times  may  be  snbstituted  for  the  above. 

GovERNitfENTAL  ORGANIZATION. — The  Supervisory  pow- 
ers  should  be,  — 

1.  The  local  School  Committee,  chosen  by  the  town  or 
city,  and  clothed  with  the  largest  powers  that  can  be  given 
to  a  town  or  city ;  their  salaries  to  be  fixed  and  paid  by  the 
town  or  city. 

2.  County  Superintendents,  to  be  chosen  by  ballot  in  each 
county  ;  their  salaries  to  be  fixed  by  the  Board  of  Education, 
and  paid  by  the  counties. 

3.  Board  of  Education,  composed  of  the  Governor  and 
Lieutenant-Governor  (eaj  officiis),  three  County  Superinten- 
dents, and  five  other  distinguished  citizens,  who  shall  be 
chosen  by  the  Legislature.  The  Secretary  of  the  Board  shall 
be  chosen  by  the  Board,  and  be  a  member  of  it.  The  sala- 
ries shall  be  fixed  by  the  Legislature,  and  paid  by  the  State. 

Duties  of  the  above  Officers.  —  The  local  School  Com- 
mittee shall  organize  and  control  the  public  schools  of  their 
city  or  town.  They  shall  decide  what  text-books  and  appa- 
ratus shall  be  used  in  their  schools,  what  time  shall  be 
devoted  to  certain  studies,  what  rules  and  regulations  shall 
be  enforced,  and  whatever  else  may  relate  to  the  improve- 
ment and  happiness  of  the  pupils.  They  should  elect  the 
teachers  after  the  most  comprehensive  and  searching  exami- 
nation ;    never  forgetting,  that  as  is  the  teacher,  so  is 

THE    SCHOOL. 

It  should  be  the  duty  of  County  Superintendents  to  deliver 
lectures  on  educational  subjects  in  all  the  schools  with  which 
they  are  connected ;  to  assist  in  the  semi-annual  examina- 
tions ;  to  be  the  teachers  in  the  Teachers'  Institutes ;  and 
to  do  all  they  can  to  elevate  the  standaid  of  instruction  and 
government. 


It  should  be  tlie  duty  of  the  Board  of  Education  to  watch 
over  and  direct  the  whole  subject  and  interests  of  public  free 
schools  through  the  State.  They  should  collect  authentic 
information  on  educational  topics  from  all  quarters  of  the 
civilized  world ;  and  recommend  such  new  legislation  as 
the  advances  in  science,  literature,  arts,  government,  and 
religion  make  necessary. 

Every  town  and  city  in  tlie  State  should  report  annually, 
in  full,  to  the  Board  of  Education,  upon  every  thing  relating 
to  the  condition,  prospects,  and  needs  of  the  public  schools 
within  its  limits.  Each  County  Superintendent  should 
annually  report  to  the  same  Board  an  account  of  his  labors, 
and  suggest  such  changes  in  the  management  or  teaching  of 
the  public  schools  as  he  deems  important. 

The  Board  of  Education  should  report  annually  to  the 
Legislature  a  minute  and  comprehensive  account  of  every 
thing  important  relating  to  the  public  schools  of  the  State  ; 
which  Report  should  be  printed,  and  sent  to  every  School 
Committee  in  the  State. 

The  condition  of  our  country  now  calls  very  emphatically 
upon  every  State  Legislature  in  our  Union  to  act  on  this 
subject  as  patriots  and  philanthropists.  The  aim  should  be 
to  establish  public  free  schools  on  every  inhabited  square 
mile  where  they  do  not  now  exist.  To  secure  the  utmost 
efficiency  and  success  in  schools  thus  established,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  have  competent  and  purposely  prepared  teach- 
ers :  therefore  it  will  be  great  economy,  as  well  as  wisdom, 
to  establish  Normal  Schools,  through  whose  agency  the  best 
modes  of  teaching  and  governing  may  become  universal. 
The  Primary,  Grammar,  and  High  Schools  are  found  to 
be  the  necessary  and  successful  grades ;  beginning  with 
children  at  the  age  of  five,  and  ending  with  those  at  the  age 
of  fifteen.  This  system  of  individual  and  national  education 
is  perfectly  simple.     It  has  been  tried  with  success  in  dift'er- 


8 

ent  countries.  It  is  admirably  suited  to  our  present  condi- 
tion, and  will  be  found  equally  useful  to  our  future  nameless 
millions  of  inhabitants.  It  will  make  the  United  States  a 
united  brotherhood  of  intelligent  and  happy  citizens. 

Each  State  Legislature  in  our  republic  has  the  sole  right 
to  introduce  and  support  such  a  system  for  the  benefit  of  all 
its  citizens. 

It  has  been  asked,  "  What  results  do  you  expect  from 
your  system  of  public  free  schools  ?  "  We  answer,  —  that 
children  should  be  taught  in  school  what  they  will  most  need 
in  the  world ;  and  we  think  they  will  most  need  to  live 
religiously^  to  think  comprehensively^  to  reckon  mathe- 
matically, to  converse  eloquently,  and  to  write  grammati- 
cally. If  children  properly  learn  and  understand  these 
five  sources  of  happiness  and  prosjierity,  they  will  be  able 
to  make  the  most  of  themselves,  and  do  the  most  good  to 
others. 

A  Legislature  establishing  the  true  system  of  free  public 
instruction  may  be  sure  of  securing  many  thousand  instances 
of  such  success.  Education,  especially  moral  education, 
underlies  all  the  sources  of  human  power,  action,  and  hope. 
Religion,  enthroned  in  the  lives  of  its  citizens,  is  the  cheapest 
police  that  any  country  or  government  can  maintain. 

We  accordingly  ask  each  Legislature  in  our  Union  so  to 
recognize  the  highest  motive  powers  of  the  human  mind  in 
their  public  free  schools,  that  the  physical,  intellectual,  and 
moral  powers  of  the  rising  generations  may  be  developed  in 
their  natural  order,  proper  time,  and  due  proportion ;  each 
power  occupying  the  exact  place  in  the  grown-up  character 
which  God  ordained  in  the  infant  constitution.  The  most 
will  be  reached  by  aiming  at  the  highest.  As  national  char- 
acter is  manufactured,  we  should  see  that  the  elements  which 
should  compose  that  character  are  doing  their  proper  work 
upon  the  formative  periods  of  youthful  development. 


9 


The  peculiar  condition  of  our  country  makes  this  the  for- 
tunate time  to  unite  East  and  West,  North  and  South,  in  one 
harmonious    movement  for  the   great  interests   of    national 
education.     On  this  subject  there  can  be  but  one  aim  and 
one   hope, — the  aim  and  the  hope  of  establishing  such  a 
system  of  democratic,  republican  education  as  the  nineteenth 
century   demands   of   the  first  republic  in  the  world.     We 
hope  the  time  is  not  far  distant,  when  a  boy,  at  the  age   of 
five,  can  enter  the  free  primary  school  of  his  native  town, 
go  through  the  grammar   and  high   schools,  then  enter  the 
free  State  college,  and  thence  pass  to  the  free  national  uni- 
versity, graduating  there  at  the  age  of  twenty-four,  qualified 
for  the  proper  discharge  of  all  the  duties  of  the  profession  or 
trade  he  has  chosen.      It  will  be  found,  that  only  a  small 
number  of  all  the  pupils  in  a  State  will  go  through  the  whole 
course ;  but  it  should  be  made  certain,  that  no  pupil  of  dis- 
tinguished ability  should   ever   be   denied   the  most  copious 
supply  of  means  through  his  entire  academic  life,  although 
his  parents  may  be  the  most  indigent  in  the  State.      Such  a 
national  system,  wisely  and  impartially  administered,  would 
be  to  our  Union  as  a  central  heart,  sending  the  nutritious 
currents  of  physical,  intellectual,  and  moral  life  to   every 
extremity  of  our  vast  republic.     We  have  reason  to  know, 
that    our   illustrious  American   philanthropist,   Mr.   George 
Peabody,  would  welcome  the  inauguration  of  such  a  national 
system.     Would  it  not  be  expedient  for  State  Legislatures 
to    co-operate   in   Mr.   Peabody's   efforts    to    establish    free 
schools  ? 

■  It  is  proposed,  in  these  remarks,  rather  to  make  some 
friendly  suggestions  to  State  Legislatures,  than  to  discuss  the 
proposition  of  a  national  system ;  but  we  ought  to  say  a  few 
words  about  compulsion. 

In  the  kingdom   of  Prussia,  every  child  is  compelled  to 
attend  some  school,  whether  his   parents  will  or  not.     Tlic 

•A 


10 


Annual  Report  has  these  Avords  :  "  There  is  not  a  single 
human  being  in  Prussia  Avho  does  not  receive  education, 
intellectual  and  moral,  sufficient  for  all  the  needs  of  common 
life."  This  law  of  compulsion  had  been  in  operation  but 
fourteen  years  when  pauperism  and  crime  had  diminished 
thirty-eight  per  cent. 

In  the  present  relationships  of  our  mixed  population  in 
the  United  States,  this  law  of  compulsion  is  called  for  as  a 
defence  of  our  liberties.  We  have  in  our  country  more  than 
a  million  of  children  between  the  ages  of  five  and  sixteen  who 
can  neither  read  nor  write  !  Do  you  ask,  AVhat  are  we  go- 
ing to  do  with  them  ?  That  is  not  the  question.  The  ques- 
tion is.  What  are  they  going  to  do  with  us  f  Think  of  their 
future  power  at  the  ballot-box  !  We  can  disarm  their  animal 
ferocity  and  traditional  prejudices  only  by  intellectual  culture 
and  moral  principle ;  and  this  preventive  process  can  be 
effectually  applied,  in  nineteen  cases  out  of  twenty,  only 
during  the  period  of  youth.  Society  has  a  right  to  defend 
itself  against  crime,  against  murder,  arson,  &c.  Has  it  not 
an  equal  and  prior  right  to  defend  itself  against  the  cause 
of  crime,  which  is  ignorance  ?  If  you  force  a  young  man 
into  prison,  because  he  is  a  thief,  we  call  upon  you  to  force 
him,  while  a  boy,  into  a  schoolhouse,  to  prevent  his  becom- 
ing a  thief.  Here  surely  "  an  ounce  of  prevention  is  worth  a 
pound  of  cure." 

At  this  period,  when  four  millions  of  freedmen  are  to  carry 
their  votes  to  the  ballot-box  to  help  shape  the  destinies  of 
our  republic,  what  language  can  overstate  the  pressing 
necessity  of  their  being  educated  to  comprehend  their  new 
position,  exercise  their  new  rights,  and  obey  their  new  laws? 
It  is  the  command  of  Nature's  God,  that  all  children  should 
be  educated  in  order  to  answer  the  purposes  of  their  crea- 
tion. If  a  parent  be  so  weak  or  wicked  as  to  refuse  his 
child  the  daily  bread  of  knowledge,  let  the  Legislature  stand 


11 


in  the  place  of  parent  to  that  cliild,  and  do  for  him  what 
his  nature  demands,  and  the  puolic  safety  requires.  To  enforce 
the  law,  let  the  selectmen  of  a  town  be  empowered  to  impose 
on  that  delinquent  parent  a  fine  not  less  than  one  dollar,  and 
not  more  than  five  dollars.  This  fine  would  not  need  to  be 
imposed  in  any  neighborhood  more  than  half  a  dozen  times, 
because  public  sentiment  would  so  heartily  approve  its  be- 
nevolent aim,  that  it  would  silently  change  all  objections,  as 
it  did  in  Prussia. 

It  is  the  opinion  of  many  sound  statesmen  and  enlightened 
Christians  among  us,  that  the  time  has  come  for  each  State 
Legislature  in  our  Union  to  inaugurate  and  sustain  within 
its  borders  a  system  of  free  public  schools,  open  to  all 
children  without  regard  to  locality,  condition,  sex,  or  race. 

If  it  seems  to  you,  gentlemen,  that  this  is  the  true  initial 
step  in  the  great  system  of  free,  public  instruction  in  the 
United  States,  may  not  the  country  confidently  calculate  on 
your  early  and  generous  co-operation  in  the  noble  enterprise  ? 

Shakspeare  says,  — 

"  Doubt  not  but  success 
Will  fashion  the  event  in  better  shape 
Than  I  can  lav  it  down  in  likelihood." 


L  E  T  T  E  E. 


[With  pleasure,  I  present  the  fohowing  letter  of  a  distinguished  friend 
of  education,  assured,  that,  whenever  his  modus  operandi  shall  be  skilfully 
tried,  it  will  be  crowned  with  success.] 

West  Medford,  May  17,  1867. 
Eev.  Chakles  Brooks. 

My  dear  Sir,  —  In  compliance  with  your  request,  I  will  now 
give  you  my  very  crude  notions  on  the  best  mode  of  promoting 
the  spread  of  education  in  our  Southern  and  Western  States.  I 
agree  with  you,  that  the  first  step  is  to  persuade  each  State  Legis- 
lature to  establish  free  public  schools  wherever  they  are  required. 
This  will  prove,  as  I  think,  not  a  very  difficult  matter,  if  the  right 
mode  of  proceeding  be  adopted  at  the  outset.  In  the  first  place,  you 
must  give  the  members  of  those  Legislatures  a  correct  idea  of  what 
a  school  should  be ;  that  is  to  say,  what  is  now  meant  by  educa- 
tion. They  are  to  be  made  to  understand  that  teaching  is  a 
science,  and  a  very  exact  and  delicate  one ;  that  a  teacher  is  an 
artist,  who  must  not  only  have  a  training  to  fit  him  for  his  calling, 
but  a  natural  aptitude  for  it,  and  a  degree  of  tact,  as  well  as  quali- 
ties of  mind  and  temper,  such  as  are  not  given  to  all.  A  teacher, 
in  short,  must,  as  you  will  show  them,  first  be  taught  how  to 
teach,  just  as  we  are  all  taught  our  particular  trade  or  occupation 
before  we  undertake  to  practise  it.  I  am  supposing  that  you  are 
to  address  gentlemen  who  are  much  in  the  state  we  were  in  some 
forty  years  ago,  when  yourself,  and  afterwards  other  enlightened 
men,  opened  our  eyes  to  the  true  meaning  of  education.  In  our 
boyhood,  any  one  who  could  read,  write,  and  cipher  was  thought 
fitted  to  keep  school,  as  it  was  then  called ;  while  the  primary 
schools,  for  little  children,  were  in  the  hands  of  superannuated 
females,  who  eked  out  a  poor  living  by  teaching  them  what  they 


14 


knew  themselves.  Now  a  teacher  is  required,  not  only  to  be  well 
acquainted  with  the  branches  he  is  called  upon  to  teach,  but  to 
study  the  minds  and  tempers  of  his  pupils,  as  well  as  any  faults 
they  may  have  arising  from  defects  of  previous  training. 

You  say  very  justly  in  your  letter,  "As  is  the  teacher,  so  is 
the  scholar ; "  and  this  maxim  apjilies  not  only  to  learning,  prop- 
erly so  called,  but  to  deportment.  Manners  are  as  important  as 
knowledge,  and  the  teacher  should  be  a  model  to  his  pupils  in  this 
respect  as  well  as  all  others.  Now,  in  my  view,  the  best  and  the 
only  way  to  make  men  sensible  of  all  this  is  to  set  it  before  their 
eyes ;  to  show  them  by  example  what  may  be  done,  and  what  is,  in 
fact,  now  doing  elsewhere. 

My  plan,  then,  would  be  to  propose,  in  the  first  place,  to  the 
Legislatures  to  permit  a  normal  teacher  to  come  before  them, 
attended  by  two  or  three  of  his  or  her  pupils.  He  should  go  pro- 
vided with  diagrams,  maps,  plans,  and  whatever  apparatus  he  may 
require  for  a  full  illustration  of  his  method.  Of  course,  notice 
would  be  given  of  the  intended  lecture ;  and  the  public,  as  well  as 
members  of  the  Legislature,  would  be  invited  to  attend.  By  this 
means,  unless  I  am  greatly  mistaken,  one  hour  would  bring  about  a 
new  revelation  and  an.  entire  revolution  in  regard  to  education. 
Every  parent,  and  especially  every  mother,  who  was  present, 
would  never  rest  till  the  blessing  was  secured  to  her  children. 
More,  I  am  persuaded,  would  be  accomplished  in  this  one  sitting, 
than  by  volumes  of  explanation,  or  years  of  importunity,  in  any 
other  way. 

In  saying  this,  I  do  not  speak  entirely  without  experience. 

Sometiiing  less  than  forty  years  ago,  it  became  necessary  to 
bring  before  our  Legislature  the  subject  of  the  blind,  with  a  view 
to  an  appropriation  for  a  State  Institution  for  their  education. 

The  subject  was  quite  new  ;  and  very  little  impression  was  made, 
until  notice  was  given,  that  Dr.  Howe  would,  on  a  certain  day, 
exhibit  before  the  members  of  the  Legislature  his  method  of  teach- 
ing the  blind.  Several  children,  totally  blind,  had  previously  been 
taught  to  read  by  means  of  raised  letters. 

The  meeting  was  opened,  and  a  little  boy  was  called  up,  who 
read,  feeling  along  the  page,  a  passage  the  teacher  had  selected 
from  one  of  the  Gospels.  This  caused  great  excitement  in  the 
audience,  and  many  were  incredulous ;  one  influential  member  of 
the  Legislature  declaring  his  belief,  either  that  the  child  could  see, 


15 


or  that  he  had  got  that  particuUir  passage  by  heart.  Tlie  gentle- 
man was  invited  to  come  upon  the  phitform.  The  green  silk 
bandage,  with  which  the  boy's  eyes  were  covered  for  looks  merely, 
was  removed,  so  that  all  could  see  that  he  was  without  visual 
organs.  The  gentleman  was  then  requested  to  tui'u  to  any  passage 
in  the  book  he  might  select.  He  did  so,  and  the  boy  began  slowly 
to  read  it.  He  had  not  read  three  verses  before  the  doubter 
stepped  off  the  platform  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  calling  out,  "  Only 
tell  me  what  you  want.  J  am  ready  to  vote  whatever  you  say."  In 
fact,  six  thousand  dullars  a  year  was  voted  unanimously  a  few  days 
after.  Unless  I  greatly  mistake,  something  like  this  will  result 
from  the  experiment  1  propose.  All  that  need  be  required,  I  think, 
is  that  the  expenses  of  the  exhibition,  and  of  the  party  going  and 
returning,  should  be  paid.  The  Trustees  of  Mr.  Peabody's  Fund 
could  not  do  better  than  to  appropriate  what  may  be  necessary  for 
this  purpose. 

With  many  thanks,  so  far  as  I  am  individually  concerned,  for  the 
great  service  you  have  already  rendered  this  noble  cause,  and  with 
warm  wishes  for  your  further  success, 

I  am,  dear  sir,  your  devoted  friend  and  kinsman, 

EDWAKD  BROOKS. 


VCSB  LIBRARY 


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